Changing of the Guard
by Silver Grizzly
Summary: Nothing lasts forever, especially high school. Three years have passed since the day five very different sophomores were given detention together, and formed lifelong friendships. But though the princess, the athlete, the brain, the criminal, and the basket case are all gone now, the Breakfast Club lives on.
1. The End of an Age

"Boy, is Vernon gonna be pissed." Allison commented.

"Eh, who cares?" John smirked as he finished the final touches on his masterpiece.

"Besides, it's not like he's gonna know to look here, anyways." Brian offered as he admired John's handiwork. On the inside of one of the library desks was carved the name of their little group, the Breakfast Club, as well as another message.

"I'm surprised you're okay with us doing this, Brian." Claire looked at the nerd, who shrugged.

"Well, it's not like I'm gonna be here forever." Brian paused, realizing the implication of that statement. "Can you guys believe we'll be graduating?"

"Nah." John laughed. "I always thought I'd be kicked out first."

"Yeah well, I think Vernon liked having you around to give detentions to." Andrew spoke up.

John Bender didn't answer. No one else did either. They were all thinking the same thing.

Two years ago, the five of them had been brought together by coincidence, put into detention on the same Saturday. John knew better than most that that day had been unusual. In all the detentions before or since, he'd never seen the connection that had been established between him and the four people he now called his best friends. But soon, all that was going to end.

Brian was going to Harvard in the fall, like everyone knew he would. Andrew was also going to college, in California on a wrestling scholarship. Allison would be attending art school. Claire was headed off to Columbia, her parents' alma mater. Alone out of the five of them, John was not continuing his education, instead taking on a full time shift at his current workplace in an autoshop.

"I don't want this to end." The words escaped John's lips, unbidden.

"What, the endless Saturday detentions?" Andrew snorted. "If I never saw the inside of this library again, I'd die a happy man."

"Same here." Brian agreed. "I had to give up valedictorian because of all the disciplinary marks on my record."

"And yet Harvard still accepted you." Claire pointed out.

John snickered. "Yo pipsqueak, if you feel like killing yourself again, just let me know. I'll get jockstrap and we'll come knock some sense into you."

Once upon a time, Brian might have been frightened, but now he just smiled. "Hey now, it's the guys at Cornell who toss themselves off bridges."

"I would too, if my school were named after a vegetable." Allison muttered, intent on her own work.

"You know, corn is actually a vegetable, grain, and a fruit?"

"Shut up, Brian." The others all said automatically to no avail, as the smallest member of the Breakfast Club began to lecture them about the plant.

"What're you working on?" Andrew asked Allison, craning his head to look at her sketchpad.

"You'll see." Allison winked and pulled the paper away from his prying eyes.

"See what?" Claire sat down next to Allison. "C'mon, let me see."

"I'm almost done, relax." Allison smacked Claire's hands away. "There." Triumphantly, the basket case revealed her finest work yet.

"Allison." Claire breathed. "It's beautiful."

"Not bad." John nodded.

Brian stopped talking as he noticed the artwork, his rant about corn forgotten.

Andrew grinned and kissed his girlfriend on the cheek. "You've outdone yourself, Ally."

"Thanks you guys." Allison blushed as she signed the paper. It had taken her almost the entire afternoon, but she'd manage to recreate the five of them as they were the first day they'd met, sitting together in the library of Shermer High.

After a long moment, Brian finally spoke. "You know guys, I don't believe this is the end. We'll still be friends after this."

"Yeah." Andrew's voice went a little higher than normal, and he cleared his throat. "Definitely."

"Aw, don't tell me you're crying, jockstrap." John teased.

"Shut it, Bender." Andrew snapped, but there was no malice in his words. They were long past that.

"Alright!" The library doors opened with a loud bang, and Vice Principal Vernon strode in like a bull. "You're free to go. And don't get yourselves into trouble before graduation. I don't ever want to see any of you again!"

"Love you too, Dick." John blew the older man a kiss as the five seniors walked out the doors to a sunny afternoon.


	2. A New Beginning

September 27, 1986

 **Alice**

The cool autumn wind kicked up a few leaves into Alice Kent's path as she trudged along the sidewalk. She glared at the forbidding concrete building just ahead of her through bleary eyes. Having to wake up at six thirty to walk to school had been a struggle, but she didn't know what would happen if she was late to detention, and didn't want to chance getting another one.

However, it didn't seem like anyone else was here yet. Checking her watch, Alice realized that she was in fact early by five minutes. The doors of the school were unlocked though, and she went to the main office to see if anyone was there. Sadly, there was not, and Alice stood at the empty front desk, at a loss for what to do.

"You here for Saturday detention?" A gruff voice just behind Alice made her jump. She turned to see the school janitor standing there with a mop in his hand.

"Oh... yes, that is why I'm here." Alice mumbled.

"It's in the library." The janitor pointed down the hallway.

"Thanks mister." Alice began walking in the direction where the man had pointed.

"No need to call me that; it makes me feel old." The janitor grinned. "My name's Carl."

"Thank you, Carl."

* * *

 **Kenneth**

"Don't mind your father too much, he just wants you to do well. A detention here and there never hurt anyone." Mrs. Ford told her son. "Now, what time am I supposed to pick you up?"

"Uh, four o'clock, I think." Kenneth grabbed his lunch bag and got out of the car. "Thanks, Mom." He said almost as an afterthought. As his mother drove off, Kenneth Ford walked slowly up the front steps of Shermer High School, dreading the long day ahead of him.

As he reached the top of the stairs however, Kenneth turned around to see another car pull up to the front of the school, and a boy with messy brown hair wearing aviator sunglasses stepped out. Kenneth recognized him from several of his classes, though he was sure the guy sat several rows behind him. His name was something like Peter or Percy Scott.

More out of politeness than anything, Kenneth nodded to Percy (he was quite sure it was Percy, now that he thought about it), and the other boy nodded back. The two of them were by no means friends, but they entered the school together.

"You know where the detention is?" Percy asked.

"In the library." Kenneth said. He'd had to ask a variety of school staff before he finally found someone who knew where Saturday detention was held (it was the janitor), which made Kenneth wonder whether the school really cared or not if students showed up for it.

The two boys made their way to the school's library. A rather plain girl with dirty blond hair and hazel eyes was sitting in the furthest desk back, just under the odd statue in the center of the library. Kenneth thought she looked vaguely familiar, but couldn't place a name to her face. Without saying a word, Kenneth took the desk in front of her, while Percy sat across the aisle in the desk next to his. The three high school students watched the clock, which read six thirty-seven for some reason.

* * *

 **Janet**

"Ben!" Janet Williams shouted.

The tall, broad shouldered boy turned around, looking for who had called his name with a confused look on his face.

Janet contemplated calling out to the football player again, but decided against it. She quickly parked her car next to the sidewalk across from the school. One of the upsides of being there on a Saturday was that it was quite easy to find a parking spot.

Janet got out of her car, hastily grabbing her purse, which had her lunch in it, and hurried over to where Ben was standing, still looking puzzled. "I'm over here, Ben!"

"Oh hey Janet!" Ben's face lit up. "Didn't see you there."

"How do you get around on the field with that kind of perception?" Janet rolled her eyes. "Are you here for detention too?"

"Yeah." Ben sighed. "Third one this year. Coach says if I get any more he'll put me on second string."

"Better not screw up again then." Janet laughed. "That was really dumb by the way, throwing a football at Mr. Hess."

"I know." Ben grumbled. "C'mon, detention's in the library."

As the two made their way up the steps to the front doors, neither of them noticed a beat up van pull up to the front, and a redheaded girl with scuffed up jeans and a leather jacket climb out of the passenger seat.


	3. Janitors and Jailors

**Percy**

Percy Scott leaned back in the hard wooden chair, balancing it on the rear two legs. Carefully, so he didn't tip over the chair, he placed his feet on the desk in front of him, feigning an air of casual nonchalance. In truth though, the chair was probably about to fall over, and he would likely look very stupid in a bit.

The doors slammed open, and two new teenagers walked in. Percy recognized both. The tall, African-American boy with broad shoulders was Ben Jackson, the wide receiver on the school football team. He wasn't in any of Percy's classes, but Shermer High's Stallions weren't lacking in support from their school. The pretty brunette was Janet Williams, a cheerleader and a member of Student Council. She was in Percy's history class.

The pair paused for a bit before taking seats next to each other at the desk directly in front of Percy. Unlike the others in the library, they talked quietly between themselves. Percy couldn't make out exactly what they were chatting about, but he heard something about Homecoming and immediately lost interest. Just typical stuff for their group of people.

Come to think of it though, what was Janet doing in detention? Percy knew Ben got in trouble a lot, news traveled quickly through the hallways of the school, but he couldn't recall a single time Janet had caught any heat from the school aside from maybe dress code violations. Percy pondered this for a while. What exactly did cheerleaders do to get detention?

* * *

 **Ben**

Ben dropped his backpack next to the chair as he sank down in his usual seat, the very front desk. There were three others in detention besides him and Janet today; he vaguely recognized Kenneth Ford, the richest kid in school, sitting in the second row, but the other two were a guy and a girl he didn't know. It seemed that quite a few people had gotten in trouble this week, usually there was just one or two people in Saturday detention.

"Are you coming to Homecoming?" Janet asked as she sat down next to Ben.

"Probably not." Ben shrugged.

"Why not?" Janet pouted. "Student Council put a lot of work into it, you know."

"I just don't see the point in going." Ben sighed as he leaned back in his chair. "There's gonna be a party at Brandon's place that night anyway, might as go where the beer is, y'know?"

"Please, I know you don't drink beer." Janet scoffed. "Is it because you can't get a date?"

"Wha- I can get a date if I wanted." Ben gave the cheerleader a dry look. "I just don't want to go."

"Your loss." Janet rolled her eyes. She glanced at the clock. "Wait, why did we come so early to detention?"

"That clock's ten minutes slow." Ben had been in the library enough times to know. "Used to be twenty minutes fast, but Carl fixed it wrong."

"Who's Carl?" Janet looked at Ben with an odd expression.

"The janitor." Ben could feel Janet's judgement radiating from her. "He's a nice guy."

"You talk to the janitor?"

Ben sighed. "Forget it." He slumped onto the desk in front of him, resting his chin on his forearms. Almost immediately, the doors of the library slammed open again, and Richard Vernon, by far the most hated faculty member, strode in, followed by a girl with dark red hair wearing a black leather jacket and ripped jeans.

* * *

 **Shannon**

"Sit down." Vernon barked at Shannon, who took the desk across the aisle from Ben Jackson's. "Now, I'll be level with you lot, I don't want to be here. I know you all don't want to be here, except perhaps for you, Mr. Jackson. Sadly, because you've all engaged in delinquent behavior, we're all wasting our Saturday here. Now, you will not talk. You will not fool around. You are not to do anything but sit here and write three hundred lines explaining what you did and why you are here. I sincerely doubt it, but maybe you might just learn that when you mess with the bull, you get the horns." Vernon made a halfhearted gesture with his hand that somewhat resembled a bull's horns before striding out of the library.

Shannon watched the Vice Principal fumble with the doors before giving up and letting them slam shut. She wasn't sure why he insisted on doing that, the library's doors didn't stay open. Shannon took a sheet of paper and a pencil, but not to write three hundred lines about writing music during math class. Vernon had given her the same assignment the last two times she'd had detention, and he'd never bothered to collect the papers anyway.

Shannon O'Connor had heard it said that only fools repeated history, but nevertheless, she decided to do the very thing that had landed her in detention anyway. It was far more interesting than sitting around or trying to sleep.


	4. Jackass vs Jockstrap

**Janet**

At first she didn't notice the shrill screeching noise from the back of the room, but gradually, Janet grew more and more irritated. She stared at the clock. So far, it had only been thirty-four minutes. She turned to remark on this to Ben, but the football player was sound asleep, leaving Janet alone in her misery.

Gritting her teeth, she wrote out her lines as neatly and quickly as she could manage: I will not skip school. I will not skip school. I will not skip school. I will not skip school. I will-

"Will you stop that?!" Janet snapped, turning around to glare at the messy-haired boy behind her, who was leaning back in his chair and whistling nonchalantly. Just great, the slacker had to sit behind her. "Shouldn't you be working on your lines?"

"Finished 'em." The boy pointed at the papers sitting on the desk in front of him. To Janet's astonishment, the sheets of paper were covered back to front with the sentence 'I will not pull stupid pranks on the the vice principal'. The writing was nearly illegible, but somehow, he'd had managed to finish three hundred lines in less than the time it took Janet to do maybe sixty.

"How'd you finish so fast?" The boy sitting across the aisle from him, Kenneth Ford, leaned over. Janet knew him as one of the quieter members of the Student Council and one of the members of the tennis team. Despite being from a wealthy enough family to associate with Shermer's elites, he didn't necessarily move in the same circles as Janet did. She was relieved to see that Kenneth too hadn't gotten very far with his lines.

"Stuck some pencils to each other." The boy looked about for a moment before reaching down to the floor and picking up an odd tool. True to his word, he'd taped together five pencils, which he'd evidently used to write his lines so quickly. Janet had little patience for cheaters and rule-breakers, but she had to admit, it was a smart idea, and she wondered how a slacker like him could think up something like that.

"Isn't that cheating?" She frowned.

"Only if you get caught." He smirked, which only irritated Janet more.

"Mind if I borrow that?" Kenneth asked.

"Sure, but it'll turn your handwriting into shit." The boy's smirk grew wider, and he tossed the taped-together pencils to Kenneth without breaking off eye contact with Janet.

"You know, Vernon doesn't bother looking at these, right?" To Janet's surprise, Ben, who'd apparently woken up without anyone noticing, interjected quietly.

* * *

 **Alice**

"Well, why didn't you tell us that earlier, Einstein?"

Alice looked up from her lines at the angry outburst. She'd been absentmindedly doodling on the paper that she had barely noticed that several of the people in front of her had been talking. Now however, one of them, a boy with messy black hair and aviators, was arguing with one of the football players.

"I figured you already knew." The football player, a tall black kid, rumbled quietly.

"Why would I know that?" The first boy shot back. "I don't spend most of my weekends in here."

"Well, you do pull a lot of pranks." The brunette sitting next to the football player was the only one whose name Alice knew. Janet Williams was one of those popular girls who was known throughout the school for being a part of everything cool.

"Yeah, but the difference between me and this musclehead is that I'm not dumb enough to get caught. I'm only here cause someone ratted me out!"

"You trying to start something, jackass?" Football player growled.

"Bring it on, jockstrap." The other boy sneered.

"Guys! Stop it!" Janet pleaded. "You're going to get in even more trouble."

Alice shot a quick look at the other two students in the room. The girl sitting two desks in front of her seemed to be ignoring everyone, while the boy between them was watching the scene unfolding with the same look of horror that Alice was sure was on her face. The whole thing was like watching a train wreck happen, fascinating to watch and unable to do anything about it.

To her surprise, the boy sitting in front of Alice cleared his throat. "Uh, Percy, does it really matter? I mean, you're done with your lines already."

"Yeah, don't fight over something so trivial." Janet agreed.

Percy snorted. "Hey, I'm not gonna start the fight, but if he throws the first punch, I can't promise what'll happen."

"You ain't worth the trouble." The football player scowled as he turned around to face forward.

The room lapsed into an awkward silence after that, as Janet and the other boy returned to doing their lines, while the football player began playing paper football with the sheets of paper he was supposed to do lines on. Percy got up after a minute and wandered off to the shelves behind them. The girl in the front hadn't moved at all throughout the whole thing.

Alice looked up at the clock. It had only been half an hour since detention had begun. It was going to be a long day.


	5. Paper Toss

**Shannon**

Shannon looked over the paper that she'd been scribbling furiously on for the past two hours. Mentally, she played through the tune that she'd written and wrinkled her nose in distaste before crumpling up the sheet and tossing it at the trash can. The balled-up paper fell far short of the bin, and one of the boys sitting behind her snorted.

"Nice aim."

Shannon glared at the boy, who stared back at her with a crooked grin. He was annoyingly good-looking, with dark blue eyes and aviator sunglasses perched atop a mop of tousled black hair, as though he'd just rolled out of bed. He wore simple clothes, just blue jeans and a black jacket over a plain white shirt, but Shannon knew he was a typical cool bro, making fun of whomever he liked. She hated his type. "Let's see you do it then, if you're so good."

The boy's grin widened, and he crumpled up the piece of paper that was sitting on the desk in front of him. Without even turning to look at his target, he tossed the ball in a perfect arc that landed in the trash can.

"Weren't those your lines?" The other boy sitting behind Shannon asked, frowning slightly. This one was cute too, in a different way. He wore a dark green sweater over a button-up shirt and khakis, and had neat brown hair and green eyes. If he wasn't such a boring preppy, Shannon might have been attracted to him, or even interested enough to learn his name.

The first boy shrugged. "Like the jockstrap said, Old Dick ain't going to collect them. He'd probably toss them in the trash anyways, so really I'm doing him a favor."

The aforementioned "jockstrap" tensed in his seat, across the aisle from Shannon. Unlike with the other two boys, she at least knew his name, though there wasn't a person in the school who didn't know of Ben Jackson, probably. He was the star wide receiver for the Shermer High Stallions, though equally infamous for breaking the rules just about every other week. Shannon wondered if he was about to start up the argument from earlier, but Ben remained silent, not rising to Aviators's challenge.

There was a long moment of silence before Aviators finally smirked and got up from his seat.

"Where're you going?" Preppy turned around as Aviators sauntered past.

"Nowhere, probably." Came the reply as he wandered into the shelves in the back of the library.

"You shouldn't be out of your seat, you know." The girl sitting next to Ben spoke up for the first time since the argument. "You shouldn't be breaking more rules." Shannon fought the urge to roll her eyes in disdain. Of course the Student Council brownnoser would think that.

"You're one to talk." Aviators called back. "You're in detention with me!"

* * *

 **Percy**

Percy eventually got bored of browsing through the shelves for anything interesting to read. He'd read most of the dusty old classics in there a while ago. He briefly contemplated using the shelves like a ladder to climb up but decided against it when they creaked ominously under his weight. He wasn't sure how long he'd been in the shelves, but surely it had been long enough that the bitch in the leather jacket had cooled off.

To be honest, Percy wasn't sure what was going on. Usually people were more receptive to his casual jokes, but today everyone seemed to be downright hostile. Maybe it was the fact that they were all stuck in detention with "Mad Bull" Vernon, though he couldn't see why. The man wasn't even watching them, for Christ's sake! Percy snorted. If they wanted to sit around until four with sticks up their asses, that was on them.

He returned to the central area to find the other five pretty much as he'd left them, and sighed. Not a whit of imagination in this lot. As a matter of fact, Kenneth seemed to be asleep. A crooked grin crept across Percy's face as he considered his options. Not that he had anything against Kenneth, the guy was pretty cool in his book actually. Still, he knew Percy from several of their classes, and should've known better than to fall asleep in the same room as a consummate prankster.

Percy sat down next to the girl with the dirty-blonde hair sitting in the back row. "Yo Alice, you got any markers on you?" He was quite sure she would have some, he'd seen her doodle on the desks with a Sharpie often enough. Alice looked back at him with wide, startled eyes and shook her head. "You serious? I would've thought an artist would have some supplies on hand."

"Why don't you leave her alone?" Percy looked up at Janet, his blue eyes meeting her brown ones. He cocked his head to the side and flashed her his signature smirk.

"I don't suppose you have any markers on you, Queen Bee?" He put an arm around Alice's shoulders, making her squeak nervously. "Besides, it's not like I'm really bothering her, am I?" Percy addressed the last part to Alice, who just stared at him.

"Why would I give you my markers, if I had any?" Janet wondered aloud.

"So I can draw on his face." Percy pointed at Kenneth, who was still dead to the world. "Tell you what, it doesn't have to be a marker. Lipstick would do just fine, I'm sure you carry makeup everywhere you go."

"What has Kenneth ever done to you?" Janet scowled.

"Well it's more the fact that it'd be funny to give ol' Kenny some interesting face tattoos." Percy shrugged. "But alas, it seems that none of you can help me, so I guess I'll just settle for throwing stuff at him." He walked over to snatch up a piece of paper from the small pile in front of Ben, folding it into a paper airplane. "Know any good designs?" Percy asked the football player, who responded with a noncommittal grunt.

Percy sighed. It was like trying to communicate with a caveman. He tossed the airplane lazily, watching it loop through the air twice before smacking into Kenneth's head. The preppy boy didn't even stir, making Percy sigh again. He took another sheet of paper, utilizing a simpler design this time, one that looked more like a dart. This time, he threw his projectile with more force, and it flew straight through the air to stab into Kenneth's scalp with a sharper point.

"Ouch!" Kenneth rubbed his head as he lifted his head from the desk. "What hit me?"


	6. Lunchtime

**Kenneth**

"I don't suppose you know any good designs for paper airplanes, do you?" Percy asked in response to Kenneth's query.

Kenneth looked around to find two paper airplanes littering his desk, and wondered what he'd missed. He was about to respond when the library door crashed open. Percy was in his seat again in a flash, but Richard Vernon had seen him.

"Scott! What the hell were you doing out of your seat? Didn't I tell you to do nothing but sit there?" The vice principal shouted.

"Uh, I don't know what you're talking about, sir." Percy shrugged. "I haven't gotten up from this chair since I got here."

"Don't play coy with me, boy." Vernon scowled. "I saw you as clear as day. Now, are you gonna tell the truth, or do I have to give you another detention?"

"He has been shifting around a lot sir, but he hasn't gotten up from his seat." Kenneth spoke up, and Vernon rounded on him.

"Did I ask for your input, Ford?" The vice principal scowled. "I don't know why you suddenly feel the need to stick up for him, but you ought to worry about yourself, you understand?" He turned to the rest of the teenagers. "Does anyone else have anything to add? Jackson? Williams?"

"I didn't see nothing." Ben held up his hands. "I've just been sitting here like you told me to."

"I wasn't paying attention to- to whatever was happening behind me." Janet held her breath as Vernon turned his stern gaze upon her, as if considering whether or not to call out her obvious lie. After a long moment however, he snorted and turned away.

"Whatever." Vernon muttered under his breath. "You, and you." He pointed at Kenneth and the girl with hazel eyes in the back row. "Go get drinks from the vending machine. Eat your lunch and behave yourselves, you hear me?" The vice principal turned on his heel and strode out of the library, the door slamming shut behind him.

Kenneth breathed a sigh of relief. He wasn't entirely sure why he'd spoken up in defense of Percy, who was pretty much an asshole. Still, the guy had lent him his taped-up pencils, even if it had ultimately been for nothing. For that matter, even Ben and Janet, who Percy had been actively antagonizing, hadn't ratted him out. Maybe it was just that they all wanted to stick it to Vernon.

"So what do you guys want to drink?" Kenneth turned to the other teenagers.

"Got any alcohol?" Percy raised his hand, and the girl in the leather jacket snorted with laughter, to the surprise of everyone else. Kenneth sighed. Why had he stuck up for this guy again?

* * *

 **Alice**

The last Coke can fell to the bottom of the vending machine with a dull THUNK. Alice wondered if there wasn't a better way of vending the cans so that the soda inside wouldn't fizz up when they were opened. She grabbed the can out of the dispensing slot, and turned to her companion, the boy who'd been sitting in front of her. The strange boy with aviator sunglasses and Janet the student council girl had called him Kenneth.

Kenneth nodded to her and the two of them went back to the library, cans of soda in hand. Three Cokes, two Sprites, a Dr. Pepper, and a Fanta orange. The cold aluminum was starting to numb Alice's fingers; her hands got cold easily.

"So what're you in here for?" The question startled Alice, and she looked at Kenneth with surprise.

"Why do you want to know?" She winced; she hadn't meant it to sound rude, but he'd caught her off guard and the question had come automatically.

"Just curious." Kenneth shrugged. He didn't seem to have noticed. Or perhaps he just didn't care.

"I overslept and came to class late." Alice said after a slight pause. Perhaps it was because the silence was awkward, but she felt like talking all of a sudden.

"That's it?" Kenneth looked at her in surprise. "Your teacher must be an asshole, giving you detention for just being tardy."

"It was the fifteenth time." Alice mumbled, feeling her ears grow warm.

"Oh." Kenneth looked like he wasn't sure whether to laugh or not. "That's... yeah, fifteen is pretty bad."

"What about you?" Alice asked. "Why're you in detention?"

"I uh... hacked into one of the library computers." Kenneth laughed nervously.

Alice stared at him. "Don't they expel people for that?"

"Apparently not." Kenneth shrugged. "I think the sign is just there for show."

"Why'd you do it?" Alice pressed on, intrigued. From the way Kenneth dressed, he was clearly one of the preppy kids. Unlike the really popular kids, they usually didn't do anything to get into trouble.

"Looking up football game scores." Kenneth grinned sheepishly. "I wanted to see if the Lions had beaten the Buccaneers, I wasn't able to watch the game because my dad dragged me along on a fishing trip the day of."

Alice held back a snort of laughter. Leave it to a boy to be so obsessed with football that he would hack into a library computer to look up the scores. She and Kenneth had arrived at the library however, so she didn't reply. She kicked the door twice; both her and Kenneth's hands were full with the soda cans. A few seconds later, the boy with aviators opened the door, plucked the Fanta out of Kenneth's hands, and let it shut again.

"Hey!" Kenneth exclaimed. "What the heck, Percy?"

Almost immediately, the door opened again, and Percy held it open this time, grinning like a madman. "Relax Kenny, I'm just messing with ya."

Kenneth rolled his eyes as he strode into the library, and Alice followed behind him. The two left the cans of soda on the football player's desk, taking their own drinks, and returned to their seats. Alice opened her backpack to pull out her lunch, but found that it was empty. Her heart sank. She must have forgotten to pack it before heading out; she'd woken up so early that she hadn't been fully awake until she arrived at school. Alice looked at the clock; almost five hours remained before detention would be over and she could get something to eat.

"Sup?"

Alice turned around to see Percy sitting next to her again. When the hell had he sat down? She hadn't even noticed! The boy held out a sandwich to her. "My mom packed me too much food, feel like helping a guy out?"

Alice looked at the sandwich suspiciously, wondering if he was just messing with her like he had earlier, acting all friendly. "I don't want-" She started to say before her stomach rebelled, grumbling loudly. Alice flushed as Percy raised an eyebrow.

"It's just PB and J, if you were wondering." He smiled. "And detention'll go a lot slower if you're starving."

Her resolve crumbled, and Alice took the sandwich. "Thanks."


	7. Remember the Nobodies

**Ben**

Ben slurped his Coke, and Janet looked at him with a disgusted expression. He shot her a look as if to say what? and went back to slowly chewing his sandwich, grimacing at the taste. He'd told his grandmother a hundred times at least that he hated corned beef. Then again, maybe she'd packed it specifically to teach him a lesson for getting detention again.

Next to him, Janet poked at her salad. Ben wondered idly if the girl ever ate anything else, and whether it was possible to survive on plants alone. Surely it was, some people were vegetarian, and there were animals that were herbivorous, but Ben remembered learning in elementary school about the food pyramid as well, and how important it was to have a balanced diet. He was sure that Janet's diet was definitely too vegetable-heavy. Come to think of it, he couldn't remember ever seeing her eat anything that wasn't mostly green. Then again, Ben had never bothered to pay attention to what other people ate in the cafeteria. He was usually too busy throwing food at the nerds.

Too bad there weren't any here. Of course there weren't. Nerds didn't get detention, that was for dumb jocks like him. That being said, Ben was getting pretty sick of his sandwich, and bored too. He needed an outlet, as his friend Andrew from the wrestling team had once put it. Then again, that guy had actually been friends with a nerd, before they graduated.

Ben considered starting a food fight with the asshole sitting behind him, but dismissed the idea. It would probably just set the guy off again, and he'd go back to insulting Ben, and that was a road he'd rather not go down. Arguing with other people never worked out for Ben, most people were just smarter than he was and he usually ended up looking stupid.

Not to mention, the guy wasn't even in his seat, but had gone to the back row to sit with the blonde chick who'd brought the drinks. Ben wondered why. The girl was kinda cute, once you actually noticed her, which was hard considering that she was as silent as a mouse, but what the heck did the guy want with her? Quiet nobodies like her usually wanted to be left alone. Ben had tried making small talk with a nobody once, out of boredom. The tall, skinny guy had just stared at him without answering, and eventually he'd given up, feeling like he was just bothering him.

Then again, the jackass, what was his name? Perry? He seemed to thrive on needling others. He was probably having a laugh at the quiet girl's expense, just like he'd been making fun of Ben earlier.

"Hey, what's up with you?" Janet poked Ben's shoulder, making him start. He realized that he'd been staring at the table in the back. "You're unusually quiet today."

"Just thinking." Ben grunted. "And don't ask whether I can think, I'm just slow, not brainless."

"I wasn't going to say that." Janet protested. "What're you thinking about?"

"Nothing much." Ben shook his head. "Hey, you ever tried talking to nobodies?"

"Who?" Janet looked confused.

"Nobodies." Ben repeated. "Your friends don't use that word? Guys and girls who're really quiet, not really nerds or dorks, but definitely not with our crowd. Matter of fact, I don't think they really belong to any group, they just exist on their own."

"Oh, you mean wallflowers." Janet nodded. "Of course I have, I'm on Student Council. I have to communicate with all students, not just the popular ones."

So how come everything you guys do only benefit the popular crowd? Not that I'm complaining but... Ben wondered to himself if Janet really believed the line she was spouting, but that was besides the point. "Really. You and him must have something in common then, because I've never been able to talk with one." He pointed back with his thumb to the two sitting in the very back row.

* * *

 **Janet**

Janet turned to look at what Ben was pointing at, and saw the irritatingly arrogant Percy sitting next to the quiet wallflower girl again. She scowled at Ben. "I doubt I have anything in common with that- that person."

"Just call him an asshole." Ben shrugged. "No one cares if you cuss."

Janet ignored the football player and stood up.

"What're you doing?"

"Putting a stop to this nonsense." Janet snapped. "I don't care who he thinks he is, he has no right to bother people the way he's been doing."

She strode over to the back row of desks, where the blonde girl was drawing a picture on a sketchpad, and Percy was watching over her shoulder. "Hey, that's not bad." The boy said, and the wallflower smiled, making Janet even more annoyed.

"Leave her alone, Percy." Janet's voice came out as cold as ice. "None of us have done anything to you, leave us out of your stupid mind games."

"Mind games?" Percy had the nerve to look confused. "I have no clue what you're talking about."

"Don't play coy." Janet hissed. "You're so fake, trying to win her over by complimenting her art."

"Hey now, I'm not lying, her drawing is really good." Percy waved a hand at the girl's sketch, and Janet had to admit that it certainly was praiseworthy. "And besides, I might be a jackass a lot of the time, but I'm certainly not as fake as you and your friends."

"Excuse me?!" Janet's temper began to ignite, and her voice rose higher than intended.

"I mean, do you even know her name?" Percy pointed at the wallflower, and Janet blinked. She racked her brain, trying to recall the girl's name, and Percy smirked. "Janet Williams, meet Alice Kent."

"I can't be expected to remember everyone's name immediately." Janet crossed her arms over her chest.

Percy's smirk grew even wider, if that was even possible. "True, at least you make the effort though, Ms. Student Council. Better than most of your friends."

"You don't know anything about my friends!" Janet growled. "You don't know anything about any of us! How dare you judge-"

"Don't I?" Percy's eyebrows shot up. "I know a lot of stuff, you know. Like how you volunteer at the hospital on the weekends, or how you think you're doing Alice here a favor by standing up for her."

Janet's jaw dropped. How the hell had he found out about that? Only her friends knew about her volunteer hours, she didn't really think of it as something to brag about. "How-"

"Your buddy Ben is here for the third time this semester, for doing dumb shit like throwing a football at a teacher. Now I appreciate a good prank myself, but have some finesse, man." He directed that last sentence at Ben, who was watching them with narrowed eyes. "Shannon over there spends an unusual amount of time in the music room, even though she's not in band or orchestra. Kenneth's favorite football team is the Detroit Lions. Shall I go on?"

"How do you know all this?" Kenneth interrupted. He and the girl in the leather jacket had turned around to listen to the argument, and had identical looks of surprise and shock on their faces.

"Yeah. You stalking us or something?" Ben asked, drawing himself up to his full height, which was truly impressive.

"Nah, get over yourself." Percy snorted. "You're not interesting enough to spend that much time on. Anyone could find out that stuff, if they just listened."

"Maybe, but normal people wouldn't stick their noses in others' business like that." Janet tossed her hair back.

"You expect me to believe that coming from you, when you and your clique are the gossip mongers of this town?" Percy said with disbelief. "Oh sure, you might not be the one spreading rumors, but you certainly don't do anything to stop Mel or Beth when they do."

Janet opened her mouth to reply but realized something else. "Hold on, how do you know Beth? She doesn't go here."

Percy gave her a disdainful look. "You, Beth, and I have been going to the same church for almost seven years, along with the jockstrap over there. That's how I know Beth. Maybe if you took your own head out of your ass for once, you'd remember that." And with that he got up and walked out of the library.


	8. Take me Away From this Place

**Shannon**

Shannon gazed up at the clock from under half-closed eyelids. Just under five hours remained until detention would be over and she could get out of this dump and away from the crazy people. Aviators had returned not long after his argument with the Student Council girl, holding a brown paper bag. Shannon thought she had a pretty good idea of what was in said bag, Aviators- or rather Percy, since that seemed to be his name- had mentioned it earlier, and he seemed crazy or stupid enough to actually go through with it.

Well, probably not stupid, he'd proven that not ten minutes ago. How the hell had he known that Shannon spent most of her lunch breaks in the music room? Shannon didn't exactly try to keep it a secret, but neither did she expect complete strangers to know how she spent her time. And it hadn't been just her; Percy seemed to know things about all of the people in the room that he shouldn't. Despite his comment that anyone could find out that stuff, it just seemed too creepy that he did listen that closely.

Shannon stood up, gripped by a sudden need to move about. Her ass had been stuck to that chair for over four hours, and her legs were starting to fall asleep. She briefly considered heading down to the music room, but ultimately decided that wandering the halls like Percy and being found by Vernon was too much of a risk to take. Not that moving around the inside of the library was any safer, if old Dick made a sudden reappearance and caught her out of her seat.

That didn't seem to concern the others, however. Ben had gotten up and was messing about with the front desk. Preppy was wandering about aimlessly and chatting quietly with Percy. Even the quiet little mouse in the back was out of her seat, though she seemed to be doing so out of a determination to stay awake, since Shannon had seen her nodding off. Only Student Council girl remained stubbornly in her chair, refusing to break any more rules. Shannon decided then that she didn't want to be on the right side of the law if that kind of stick-in-the-mud was gonna keep her company, and headed up to the second floor of the library, where she knew the audio room was.

Though, to call it a room was a bit of a stretch. It was more like a large closet, the walk-in kind you'd probably find in Student Council girl's mansion. Supposedly spacious but crammed with useless junk and old records that no one used because they were of outdated songs and boring speeches or too damaged to work properly. The audio room did however, have an electronic keyboard; not as state-of-the-art as the one in the band room, but workable nonetheless.

Shannon trailed her fingers across the white and black keys as she turned the machine on and played with the settings. Once the keyboard was working to her satisfaction, she unhooked her battered secondhand Walkman from her belt and took out the cassette tape within, before inserting it into the stereo behind her. Shannon cracked her knuckles satisfyingly, and settled her hands on the keyboard. As the music from her tape began playing, her fingers began to move, almost of their own volition, dancing over the keys in familiar rhythm. "We're talking away..."

Lost in her own world, Shannon didn't realize that she had left the door open...

* * *

 **Kenneth**

 _"I don't know what I'm to say I'll say it anyway..."_

Kenneth looked around in bewilderment, wondering where the music was coming from. He'd been stretching his legs and making small talk with Percy, who was amusing himself with Kenneth's attempts to guess what was in the brown paper bag he'd brought back, when suddenly a near perfect rendition of "Take on Me" had begun playing out of nowhere. "Do you think Vernon can hear that?" He asked Percy.

The other boy didn't seem as concerned however. A grin spread over Percy's face, and he jumped up from where he'd been sprawled on a desk. "Who cares? We're already in detention. And Vernon's not even in his office; he's probably gone out for a smoke or something."

Kenneth opened his mouth to reply, but Percy didn't give him a chance to speak, as he leapt onto the desk in front of his, startling Janet and scattering the pile of papers with his feet as he began dancing to the music.

"Get off!" Janet demanded, but Percy ignored her, remaining on the tabletop in front of her for a few seconds more before jumping from desk to desk. Kenneth couldn't help but laugh at the other boy's antics; he wasn't a very good dancer, but he was certainly enthusiastic.

 _"Take on me~ Take on me..."_

"Come on!" Percy jumped down from the desk, landing in front of Kenneth. He grabbed Kenneth's hand and twirled him around as though they were ballroom dancing. "Let's dance!" He left as quickly as he had arrived, moving over to where Alice was leaning against the statue that stood in the center of the library, tapping her foot in time to the song. Percy said something to Alice that Kenneth couldn't hear and held out his hand to her, but the girl shook her head. The messy-haired boy would not be deterred however, and he pulled Alice away from the statue. Before long, she had given in, a small smile playing across her face.

Kenneth watched as the two began dancing and wondered at the funny feeling in his stomach. He wasn't quite sure what it was, it was similar to the fluttery butterfly sensation he got right before a tennis match, but it certainly wasn't nervousness.

"You know, if you want something, usually the way to get it is to go out and chase it, instead of waiting for it to come to you."

Kenneth turned to face Janet, who'd come over to stand next to him without him realizing. "What're you talking about?"

Janet rolled her eyes. "Kenneth, anyone with a brain can see that you've got a crush on Alice. I don't know if Percy feels the same way, but if you want Alice to notice you, you have to make her see you first. Just be careful."

"I don't know..." Kenneth hesitated. "What do you mean, be careful?"

"Well I don't judge, but you have to remember, Kenneth." Janet sighed. "Alice isn't one of us. You know what I'm talking about."

He did. Kenneth wasn't as popular as Jasmine or her friends, mostly because he didn't care for people pretending to be his friends just because he was rich, but he was still a member of the ruling elite of Shermer society. And that meant that the company he kept was held to a certain standard, always being scrutinized. And if he stepped out of line, well there wasn't a whole lot the socialites could do to him, but to the less fortunate souls like Alice?

"Better that I stay away then." Kenneth grunted. "It's not worth the trouble."

" _I'll be gone~_ "


End file.
